final place in a museum for all time. martha: a lot of people in houston would like to see it staying there. a lot of them on the ground. a big program centered in houston for a large part but it will be off to los angeles in a little while. we watch it. bill: looks like another flyover. they were just kidding. see you on the radio. bye-bye. martha: "happening now" starts right now. jon: once again taking a look at space shuttle endeavour. it is "happening now." that is the name of our broadcast. the space shuttle endeavour on its way to the west coast flying over the city of houston. dipping down as low as 1500 feet. it flew over the stennis space center in mississippi and the assembly facility in new orleans. all part of the shuttle program building the fuel tanks and the engines for the shuttle.

it is about to set down in houston. again they're doing some of those low level flyovers as space shuttle endeavour takes to the skies for the final time. jenna: checking everything out for a little while, right? saying hello to everybody on the streets. meantime we turn to brand new stories and breaking news here on "happening now". jon: yesterday was all about the see credit recording of governor romney at a fund-raiser today. some audiotape of the president has mr. obama saying he believes in redistribution of wealth. big-time reaction and fallout from that. more anti-american protests in the middle east as the white house seems open to other explanationing for last week's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. the end of an era. the space shuttle endeavour taking to the skies for its final journey. those storiesries and breaking news "happening now." jon: we welcome you to this

wednesday edition of "happening now." a new battle of the tapes in the race for the white house. i'm jon scott. jenna: a battle of the tapes? not home video. different sort of tapes. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. as governor romney stands squarely behind the secretly recorded comments that 47% of voters are dependent on the government. the president is dealing with his own words on tape coming back to haunt him, back from way back in 1998. he was then state senator obama, talking about spreading the wealth. take a listen. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence, facilitate some redistribution because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. jenna: john roberts is live in atlanta with more for us now. hi, john. >> reporter: jenna, good morning to you. mitt romney is here. he will be at the marriott in downtown atlanta over my

shoulder at 1230 for a $1,000 a plate fund-raiser as his campaign launch as vigorous counterattack of criticisms in may he believes 47% of the country is taking some sort of a hand yet taking aim at president obama's specific comments in 1998 where he believes in redistribution. in an op-ed in "usa today", mitt romney writes it is a choice between recovery and dependency. since our founding america promoted personal responsibility and dignity of work and values of education. those values made our nation the hope of the earth and our economy the envy of the world. in an event in dallas last night the governor took specific aim at state senator obama's comments about redistribution. here is what he said. >> this idea the president has redistributing. i know there are some people in our country want to have a government take from some to give to the others. they would like to be others on receiving end of that and feel that a redistribution model makes sense.

i believe the role of government is help those who need help. we are cam passionate people. if someone needs help we help them. >> reporter: at the same time the rnc is out wigd a web video that marries the his 1998 comments with we can build that. painting a portait of the a prident who sees government as a benefactor for the american people. jenna: john, what is the president's campaign, response from the campaign to all of this that really happened over the last 48 hours? >> reporter: we've seen in the last day, they continue again today they're hitting mitt romney hard on what he said back in may because another chance for them to talk about anything other than the economy. they have a new web ad out today that takes aim not at mitt romney's policies but at his character. have a look at this. >> i think the fact that mitt romney's made all the comments behind closed doors really shows character. >> i think it sends a bad message. i think it is not the person

that i would want representing me. >> reporter: now at the same time the obama campaign is attacking the governor he is getting a lot of support from fellow republicans people like rush limbaugh and donald trump saying the president, mitt romney should not apologize what he said back in may. he should use it as a pivot point to press forward with his campaign and highlight the differences between himself and the president. it should be noted despite all of this in the last couple days, gallup daily tracking poll has the candidates running almost neck-and-neck, 47% for president obama. 46% for mitt romney. would appear at least according to gallup that any bounce the president got out of his convention has all but disappeared. jenna: good context for us today, john. thank you. jon: so these dueling tapes may be a big story this week but what they mean come november? joining us now, jonah goldberg, editor-at-large for "the national review" and a fox news contributor. that question first, jonah. will these tapes make a difference when people go to the voting booths in november? >> oh i don't think so.

i don't think these tapes are the grand pivot point or, not what people bring into the ballot on election day. at the same time you know, the romney campaign what it is trying to do sort as john roberts was saying use this as a pivot point to make a larger argument. if he can successfully make that larger argument about the differences between these two campaigns and their philosophies people will bring that into the ballot box. i think the actual episode has been way overplayed, sort of a silly hyperbole moment, seems like every week most of the mainstream media is announcing, now, romney's really dead. i just don't think that, a lot of this is sort of silly season stuff. jon: but romney has said, said it to neil cavuto yesterday, that these tapes illustrate the big, broad choice between these two candidates. you have one candidate who advocates redistribution of wealth and you have another candidate who says, you know, people should not be

dependent on government. they should be free to make their own choices and build their own lives. >> that is exactly the argument mitt romney has to make. the simple fact is, this is not entirely with some of my friends on the right, the actual substance, the text of what mitt romney said in that video really wasn't that great, which mitt romney even concedes which paul ryan conceded as well. it was, he confused a lot of things. he messed up in that. but if he can use that to say the thrust of what i was getting at is that my opponent believes in redistribution. i believe in the free market. he believes in big government. i believe in individual initiative, that is a good argument for mitt romney to be making. if he can use this episode to do that, that's a smart play or at least the best way to make lemonade out of a bunch of lemons. jon: the president campaign is saying look, what he was talking about making government for efficient, but if we're at a point in history where government is eating up more than 20% of the gdp in the obama administration, how can he

argue that government efficiency is his hallmark? >> yeah, look, i think the obama people are just, this is sort of gone for them. this is one of the reasons why i think this video about redistribution isn't all that interesting or all that surprising. we knew for a long time, anyone who followed barack obama's career knew that he believed in spreading the wealth around. a new video saying he likes redistribution of the wealth, like a new report saying bears are using our national forests as toilets. we knew this already. the and, so whatever obama says on this i don't think matters all that much. the simple fact is that what, romney needs to do or at least what he wants to do is to make this a clarifying choice between someone who wants to move the existing piles of money and wealth around in this country to people who are less fortunate versus a guy who wants to create ever bigger piles of money and wealth for the entire country. that is a good argument after four years of stagnation for mitt romney to make. if he can use the episode to

do it effectively it will probably help him. jon: jonah, we love having you on because you leave us with those great visual pictures. jonah goldberg from "national review". >> thanks for having me. >> new protests raging in the middle east and north africa and beyond. the french government is announcing they will be closing their embassies in 20 countries after a french magazine published cartoons of the prophet muhammad. u.s. temporarily closing their consulate due to massive american protests on your screen. in islamabad, pakistan, several hundred lawyers briefly forcing their way into an area that houses the u.s. embassy and other foreign missions before police managed to push them back. in afghanistan now hundreds of university students blocking a highway in jalalabad, chanting anti-american slogans and burning in effigy of president obama. now to egypt, prosecutors

announcing arrest warrants for several people in the united states, with alleged ties to the film that some say started all of this. of course that is in question. leland vittert is streaming live from cairo with the very latest. leland? >> reporter: now here in egypt those arrest warrants for the lack of a better term are symbolic. the united states will not extradite the seven coptic christians living in united states or for that matter the pastor from florida who supported film here to egypt. it shows the hard-line islamists are gaining in this country that really changed over the past 18 months. on tuesday egypt was the very first of this wave of anti-american violence and a number of the organizers at the protests of the american embassy there that ended up tearing down the u.s. flag said not only do they want these people involved in this film arrested, they want them tried under sharia law which could result in the death penalty if they do not repent. the penalty here in egypt would be, could be a prison

term if these people are convicted of insulting islam. there is no, there is already precedent here in this country for putting people in jail if they insult islam. someone was convicted in the past couple of weeks for that crime. the protests here though relatively quiet around the middle east not so much. in pakistan we had protests where the people were able to break through one wall of the major compound there in islamabad on the way to the u.s. embassy. they were not able to breach the wall of the u.s. embassy, shouting that we are slaves to the holy prophet muhammad, continuing in these protests against this film. whether this is part of a larger wave of anti-americanism that continues to sweep through the middle east or these protests pop back up is unclear. at least here in egypt seems as though the fuse has burned out just before it got to the dynamite. a couple of hours i was out here in cairo around the city and there were hundreds

if not thousands of riot police around the streets of the u.s. embassy. there are large police vans with riot police ready in case something else breaks out. jenna. jenna: we'll continue to watch developments there in cairo. leland, thank you. jon: want to take you to winchester, massachusetts, where the funeral procession is underway for glen doherty, the 42-year-old former seal killed in those attacks at the u.s. consulate in benghazi. he was part of the private security force hired to protect our diplomats overseas. governor duval patrick attended the weak yesterday for this american hero who died trying to protect those who weren't able to protect themselves. once again, glen doherty is being laid to rest today. this is in winchester, massachusetts. hundreds of mourners already in place. flags line his family's neighborhood we're told and

placed along the funeral route. glen doherty laid to rest today. turning to politics, brand new polls to tell you about in the race to to the white house. they run the gamut from the economy to battle for the swing states but they all seem to point to one thing. we'll tell you more about that coming up. jenna: also, jon, christmas may be months away but never too early, is it? jon: never. jenna: to talk about the must-have toys for the holiday season. we'll give you the list next

jon: fox news is your election headquarters and a slew of new polls in the race for the white house on everything from the economy to the all-important battle for the swing states and they show this race is still very tight. this poll showing president obama losing the bounce he got after the democratic convention as he leads governor romney by the slimmest of margins, 47-46%,

a statistical dead heat when you factor in the margin of error. it sets the stage for what could be a real photo finish in november. molly henneberg live at the white house for us. tell us more about the national polls, molly. what do they show? >> reporter: jon, you just showed the associated press poll. we have a new poll from "the wall street journal" opened by the same parent company of this network. it is a snapshot of the national head to head matchup. look at this one out recently and shows the president ticking up among registered voters. the president has a six-point lead, 50-44% in the "wall street journal" poll. that is up from the 4-point lead that the president had last month. the poll was taken after the attack in libya last week but before governor romney's comments on people being dependent on government. look at the right track wrong track. 55% of the registered voters in "the wall street journal" poll say america is on the wrong track. 39% say right track.

that is 7% increase since august. gallup tracking poll of registered voters. nail-biter in this one, president obama, 47%, romney 46%. "rasmussen poll" of likely voters. this is different from people registered voters this is likely to vote. 47% to 46% over the president. head-to-head matchup, "real clear politics" has president obama just under a three point lead in average of polls over governor romney. jon: as we know the national numbers don't always tell the picture. what about the battleground states? that is where the election will be decided? >> reporter: right we're keeping eye on battleground state polls from onepy yak and "new york times." colorado a key state, neck-and-neck. president obama 48%, governor romney 7%. this is narrowed road.

the last poll by quinnepiac had the president up by five. now it is one. virginia, still a four-point margin there which is same as last month. the president was leading by four points last month but now the president hits 50% in virginia which as you know, jon, is significant. jon: molly henneberg at the white house juggling all the numbers. good job of that, molly. thank you very much. jenna: a french magazine is sparking new anti-western fury releasing new cartoons mocking the prophet muhammad. what it means for our u.s. diplomats he is serving overseas and what actions we'll take when other countries follow suit. the white house is referring questions about the libyan consulate attack to the fbi. an ongoing investigation they say. ambassador bolton joins us next to weigh in on all of this. [ "odd couple" theme plays ] humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans.

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jenna: returning to one of our top stories today the french government announcing embassy closures in 20 countries, this after a french magazine published cartoons mocking the prophet muhammad. as we continue to follow the fast-moving developments in the middle east we're joined by former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. john bolton. also a fox news contributor. so, ambassador bolton, this weekly magazine has done this before and received quite a reaction for publishing photos, cartoons, pictures of the prophet muhammad. what do you make of this action by the french government though to close their embassies? >> as a prudent security matter it would seem to make a lot of sense. we've seen the tragedy of benghazi against the american ambassador on september the 11th. the attack on our embassy in cairo and riots and demonstrations all around the region. so i think as a precautionary matter it makes a lot of sense. i think it also demonstrates why the reaction is hardly

something provoked by one particular incident, one pretext or another. this is a reflection of idealogical and religious extremism. obviously shared by many people around the region. jenna: do you think it is just this weekly magazine that is causing the french to do this or is it a bigger picture issue? >> they may well have looked at the demonstrations and the riots around the regions and just concluded they weren't going to take any risks. they may have additional intelligence as well, we don't know but when we've seen a week of demonstrations over a film trailer it's not at all surprising given, especially in europe, the rec fligs, the recollection of the 2006 danish cartoons that the french would want to take preventative action. jenna: you say it is not at all surprising considering what's happening. what about the other countries as well? do you see other embassies and other countries making

the same move because we've seen these protests continue for a week? >> i think they're going to look at it carefully. in the sudan last week both the british and german embassies were attacked and it wouldn't surprise me if some of the local radical leaders tried to broaden the scope of the protests for their own reasons. again, this is a security question that i think each country's going to have to decide based on the facts and intelligence that it has. that includes the united states where you were reporting earlier, it's still very much at risk in cairo and throughout the middle east. jenna: you mentioned the issue of intelligence. talk a little bit about more about that when it comes to libia. over the weekend ambassador rice with the u.n., a position you're familiar with, continued to say what we saw in libya was spontaneous. just yesterday we heard this from the press secretary on the libya attack. let's take a listen. >> we have provided information about what we believe was the precipitating cause of the

protests and the violence based on the information that we have had available. the fbi is investigating and that investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead. jenna: jay carney went on to say, ambassador, we're not making declarations ahead of the facts, ahead of the fact here. why is this whole back and forth about the intelligence and whether or not we had it, whether or not this is a terrorist attack significant? >> well, if we had tell defense are -- intelligence and obviously didn't take adequate security precautions that would be a real indictment about the administration's approach to the region, that they had such a unrealistic appreciation for the environment that we've been left tragically with four americans dead but it also undercuts the argument that the war on terrorism is essentially over and that we don't need to worry about it, if this in fact was a preplanned terrorist attack that was known in advance. it also undercuts the

administration argument that libya has turned out so well since leading from behind to overthrow qaddafi. so there are a whole series of white house narratives that are in jeopardy here as the facts come out. jenna: we'll see what the facts are as the fbi investigates. now ambassador bolton, nice to see you as always. thank you. >> thank you. jon: at a time when our diplomatic personnel are on high alert a terrifying incident for the u.s. ambassador to whine. his car attacked outside the u.s. embassy in bejing and concerns that war could break out in in that region at any moment. a cyber terror attack at one of our nation's big banks. even if you don't bank with them, deep ramifications for all of us after the bank of america website was hit. space shuttle endeavour on its final flight. we're following this historic journey as the shuttle wings its way to its

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jon: right now we are keeping an eye on the white house press briefing room. jay carney expected to take to the microphones there at any moment now. yesterday the press was all consumed with mitt romney's

taped comments that talked about him believing that 47% of americans who were sort of on the government dole wouldn't vote for him. we'll see today whether the press corps has any questions of jay carney regarding this taped surfaced from the white house late yesterday. not from the white house i should say but from a speech then state senator barack obama gave saying that he likes the concept of government redistribution of wealth. we'll keep an ear on the press secretary's comments. if he makes any news we'll bring it to you live. jenna: right now one of the big stories of course is what is going on in the middle east and growing violence in that region but further east tension is increasing in asia. this is a very important story that we wanted to cover for you today. the u.s. ambassador to china escaping an attack on his car in beijing. security guards intervening to protect gary locke from a mob of protesters outside our embassy. the group is demonstrating at the nearby japanese embassy as well. this is part of same thing,

demanding that japan give up control of a chain of islands located in the waters between the two countries. those islands, the focus of a growing territorial dispute. all of this is happening on the same day that the chinese were remembering the japanese invasion in 1931. this set off an all-out war that only ended with the close of world war ii. there are concerns the region could be heading into a new conflict, maybe even a new war. tensions are certainly high. the defense secretary leon panetta is visiting with a message of cooperation with the chinese. take a listen. >> we want to begin what you have called a new model relationship and we can begin with better relationships and i'm confident that we'll be able to improve our dialogue and communication and our security together. jenna: gordon chang is the author of, the coming

collapse of china. we call on gordon to talk about issues of asia. one of the things, gordon, what you say we're watching right now could be a war in asia at any moment. that's powerful. why do you believe that? >> well the chinese right now have sent a dozen ships to the senakaku islands and these chinese ships actually go into, incur into japanese territory. this is serious because the chinese have said that they're sending fishing boats, a thousand of them to the senaaku islands. these crises flare up and die down but they're coming with more and more regularity. they're coming at a time where there is a lot of turbulence inside of china and china is not able to compromise so this is a dangerous situation. jenna: we mentioned the ebb and flow of this controversy over these islands. so why now? why are we seeing for example, protests outside of our embassy in china? >> i think because the chinese government is ramping up the anti-japan

propaganda. in the beginning of this month the vice president who is slated to become the next leader of china disappeared for two weeks. state media was entirely quiet but at the same time state media then ramped up the propaganda on japan. even beijing evening news, a state-run paper, suggested that the chinese government use nuclear weapons against japan. so you can see that the government is whipping up the emotions of the chinese people. and this could become not just, not just anti-japan but also anti-foreigner. as we saw those crowds surround the ambassador locke's car, this could really get out of hand. jenna: so, god gordon, between the two countries if japan and china go at it any kind of way whose side are we on? >> we're definitely on the side of japan because we have a mutual defense treaty that requires us to come to japan's aid if somebody attacks territory administered by japan. these islands are

administered by japan so clearly the united states has an obligation to do so. i think secretary panetta instead of talking about communication because we've been talking about communication for four decades. what we should be talking about is saying that the united states will honor its treaty obligations to its allies in asia, specifically the japanese. jenna: so the president has said though that he is going to pivot to asia, that is his area of focus right now. you see the defense secretary obviously over there meeting with the new leadership saying we're not here to contain china. we're here to have cooperation. this on the same week we see the president file a complaint with the world trade organization. this is about subsidies for auto parts in china make it harder to compete with chinese goods. there is a lot happening all in one week, gordon. how do you make sense of it all and what we're really trying to achieve there? >> the united states is trying to work with its partners and friends in asia. the reason why we had this pivot or rebalancing because countries in region are very concerned about china's

trajectory at this moment and have called on washington to help to contain the chinese. we need to be frank and frank in public with the chinese to say what is going on. we have these sort of meally-mouthed words but the chinese sort of don't see this as gestures of friendship on our part. they see it as a sign of weakness and therefore they press the advantage. we've seen this same do nam mick of weak statements from the administration and the chinese becoming more aggressive. we need to stop the dynamic by being clear to the chinese they can not be irresponsible and can not upend peace and security in asia. jenna: gordon, we talk to you about a whole host of issues what is happening in china, north korea and iran. where do you put that? with so much happening in the world and so much anger focused on the united states and on the west what do you think takes priority? >> well i think china really takes priority in the sense that we don't have a north korea problem and which don't have an iranian problem. we have a china problem and if we can put china back

into the box with some smart diplomacy as secretary clinton talks about then we could solve a lot of problems at once. the problem right now dictators think they can get away with things. they act with impunity. that's why we have all the problems at the same time. jenna: interesting to see the themes all come together, gordon. thank you for the attention on a story that wasn't getting a lot of press and we'll continue to follow here on "happening now." nice to have you as always. thank you. >> thank you. jon: some new questions about protecting our nation's banks from, cyber terror attacks. this following an attack on bank of america's website. liz macdonald of the fox business network is with us to tell more. elizabeth? >> reporter: good to see you, jon. could u.s. banks with stand a terror driven cyberattack? that is on the minds of many consumers after bank of america suffered a denial of service attack yesterday and cyber hackers claiming affiliation with a middle east terror group

claimed responsibility. according to intelligence sources close to the matter it is unclear whether a terror group had anything to do with the cyberattack but it came as the fbi has been warning that cyber criminals are increasing their cyber attacks on u.s. banks of all sizes, big and small, with u.s. banks targeted every day. mostly from cyber hackers in eastern europe. the way it works is, hackers break in via spam or phishing e-mails. then they steal bank employee log-in credentials and then consumers money. the hackers masquerade as bank administrators signing off on wire transfers out of customer accounts. to cover their track the hackers launch a massive denial of service action against the bank's website as a distraction to stop banks from catching their fake wire transfers. but banks do tell fox business they have beefed up their firewalls however the fbi has already warned that cybercrimes pose a major threat to the u.s. john and jenna, i have to tell you,

bank of america is telling fox business just now that our online banking system is safe, stable and secure and the vast majority of customers did not experience any issues yesterday. back to you, jon and jenna, pretty ominous stuff there. liz macdonald fox business networks. thank you. >> sure. jenna: parents in the windy city breathing a huge sigh of relief today as their children finally go back to school. will the teachers stay on the job? that is one of the big questions. we're live from chicago just ahead. plus we're awaiting a new report from the justice department on the botched "fast and furious" gun tracking operation. we'll have more on that for you now. and there is the shuttle endeavour. it is just stopping over in texas. its one of the things you have to do to get to california if you're flying a shuttle that big across the country. after a nice little spin around the city of houston the shuttle endeavour touches down there. we'll make to get video of the landing. so fascinating to see it touch down, jon. jon: space shuttle endeavour was authorized by congress

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call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. jon: some news just out of the centers for disease control in atlanta and it's not good. the number of dead from the west nile virus in this country is up to 134 this week, from 118 the previous week. most of those deaths were in texas. and as you might imagine, the number of cases nationwide is also up. 3142 versus 2633 the week before. that is a rise, if i'm doing my rough math correctly, of about 20% in just a week. west nile still causing a huge problem in this nation. we'll keep you updated on the numbers and let's hope

they don't get any worse. jenna: jon, i'm going to need your quick math when we talk a little bit about the polls. jon: i'll do what i can. jenna: wisconsin was once considered a state the president would win handily as he did in 2008. when governor romney tapped wisconsin congressman paul ryan as his running mate the badger state became something of a battleground. that's why we're looking closer what is happening in wisconsin today. it has 10 electoral votes. all those votes important in this election. we want to show you a little bit are with the polls stand right now. president ahead, say with jon's math, six points, jon 581-45%? jon: looks like six it me. jenna: you see the president is ahead. one of the things we're watching as well the senate races and senate battles are really tightening there. the former governor tommy thompson and his democratic opponent tammy baldwin are in a dead-heat as you seep on the screen. a month ago in the same poll,

mr. thompson has a six point lead. so something has changed. governor thompson joins us now. as a note we reached out to miss baldwin for an interview but governor thompson is the one joining us today. nice to see you, governor. >> my pleasure, jenna. thanks for very much taking a closer look at wisconsin. i love everybody out there that looks at wisconsin. jenna: is just not about the packers but about politics. let's talk about the polls as well. just one poll, we understand that for sure. but it is a trend we're seeing the races are tightening. why is your race getting tighter? why is your lead not as big now? >> well the truth of the matter is, is that my opponent has been up for four weeks on television attacking me and criticizing me, falsely i might add and we haven't been up. so obviously the race is going to tighten. we just went up on television last friday. and i think you're going to see a it widen again. i think we're in good shape. jenna: are you going negative as well? governor are you going

negative as well with your ads? >> no. we're positive. we, we believe that the records are so disparate. we have an opponent that believes in increased taxes, believes in government control of health care. does not believe obamacare went far enough. and of course i cut taxes 91 times. she voted to increase taxes over 100 times. there is a stark difference. i think the philosophy and the vision once it gets out there will show that she is very extreme for wisconsin and that i've been on the statewide ballot many times and have always won. so i feel very good in the position we're in. i feel very good the direction the state is going. i also believe that romney-ryan will be a dead-heat right down to the end. the last poll, and only poll that really matters is the poll on election day. i feel very comfortable and optimistic about both governor romney and paul ryan, my friend and myself's position. jenna: you know that well as being elected twice as governor of wisconsin what

it's like to wait for the final election day. >> four times. jenna: four times. okay. there you go. well, governor, on that, the big news this week is this video that has come out on governor romney. >> yes. jenna: you have control obviously of your campaign but it is hard to have control over others. what kind of effect has that video had? have you had to answer questions about what governor romney is saying and what the republican party stands for? >> oh, i think that that is taken out of context. i think you know, republicans are very compassionate party and believe very much in helping every individual provided they want to help themselves. what governor romney is saying is we'll be willing to help people but they have got to help themselves and they have got to be able to stand up and take what is, what is offered and be able to make something out of it. i think a much more telling thing is what president obama is saying, that he wants to redefine and to

reassign the profits and the assets from one person to another. the redistribution i think is much worse of a position to be in than what governor romney is. jenna: governor thompson, nice to have you today. we look forward to having you back to talk more about your race as we get closer to election day. >> thank you. jenna: thank you so much. jon: well, here's a question that a lot of people are going it find interesting. was jesus married? a new discovery has at least some historians thinking it could be the case. an ancient, the ancient evidence sparking a very controversial religious debate all over again. rick takes a look at what was uncovered. plus plan on standing in line at midnight day after thanksgiving to get your hands on the hot toy. we have a better idea. we have a list of the most popular toys this year so you can buy them ahead of time.

jon: now after 25 -- >> space shuttle aircraft with endeavour strapped on its top coming in for a landing at ellington field. touchdown. jon: i jumped the gun there. after 25 missions in space and nearly 123 million miles flown, space shuttle endeavour is on its final journey headed to california. this is the landing in houston, the home of so much of our nation's space activity. steve harrigan joins us live from miami with an update, steve? >> reporter: jon, we've been watching this remarkable piggyback operation all day since it started in florida at 7:20 this morning.

that is space shuttle endeavour is actually bolted onto a modified 747 and it really has been flying low over areas to show people, the shuttle one more time and also especially to honor workers at different nasa installations, flying low and really tipping the wings is a sign of respect for people that helped build the shuttle program over the past 30 years. after houston the endeavour will eventually make its way out to california to los angeles international airport. then perhaps the most interesting part of its journey will be a 12 mile stretch on the ground. you're basically going to see something as big as a five-story apartment building moved on ground through a congested urban area to parts of los angeles to its final destination in the california science museum. jon, back to you. jon: all right. steve harrigan keeping an eye on the endeavour journey live from miami. steve, thank you. jenna: it is never too early to think about holiday shopping especially when it comes to jon. he is just exhausting to shop for, i'm all over it. jenna: no, i really mean

kids, right? when it comes to showing for your children. so toys "r" us just released this brand new list of all the hot toys and rick has been doing some very serious reso much on this. rick? >> reporter: very serious, jenna. there are only 96 shopping days till christmas. 79 days till hanukkah. let's get going already. every few years there is breakout, must-have toys your kids are begging you for. today the retailer toys "r" us you putting out the annual list. these are the toys toys "r" us will be big sellers for the season. starting today you can reserve one for your child at the local toys "r" us. put down 20% deposit on any of toys. won't have to worry about long lines or the store running out. why what are the hot toys? here are the top three. julia nismt ni studios. it is a sticker set. number two, furby by hasbro.

update on the 1998 interactive toy robot. that will set you back 59.95. according to toys "r" us, the number one hot toy, doc mcmuffin doll. based on disney, jr. show character. the rose vision system at toys "r" us stores only. you can't do it online. you have to do it by october 31st to reserve your doc mcstuffins doll. i never herd of it. jenna: me neither. calling one direction, new direction. >> they're on the list. figurines for all the band members,. jenna: talk about foreign policy, you get to the boy bands we're lost. we're lost. >> reporter: sorry. jenna: rick, thank you very much. see anything on the list? jon: i didn't know about the doc mcstuffins either but glad my kids aged out of

that zone. our national debt is spiraling out of control. we'll take a look at the roll the economy is playing in the race for the white house. that's next

>> reporter: rick folbaum the happening now trol control room. governor mitt romney's piece in usa today, what he has written about jobs and the economy and how it could shakeup the election. brand-new polling numbers out as voters in two dozen states around the country get ready to go cast early ballots starting by the end of this week. the numbers and analysis state ahead for you. an in-depth look at what is going on in one of the biggest swing states, why both sides are going all out trying to win the six electoral votes of iowa. we'll have that and a lot more as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now.

jenna: a campaign disruption if that's what you want to call it sparked by a few videos now turns into a full-fledged debate about the economy and how to fix it. welcome to "happening now," everybody, we are glad you are with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. governor romney is turning the tables where he says he can't win over obama supporters and attacks the premise of dependency. turn out will be crucial. the race is tighter among likely voters. the latest "wall street journal"-nbc news poll shows president obama 5 points ahead 50-45. he's only one point ahead 47-46 in the latest poll conducted for the "associated press" by g. f. k. both of those within the margin of error. charlie hurt ace columnist for the washington times. i want to start with a look at

another number, the president's job approval rating. 50%, many in the media have been saying that is sort of a come become for the president. is it? >> it is at least a couple of points better than he was doing a week or so ago in terms of approval. i would also caution people to be very careful about all the polling at this time of the election. you know, in 1980 for months leading up until a landslide election the polls showed jimmy carter and ronald reagan neck-and-neck or jimmy carter well ahead of ronald reagan and it wasn't until the last couple of days before the election that voters broke and they broke hard for ronald reagan. and i would argue that we have a very similar situation right here where you have a very bad economy, have really ugly stuff going on around the globe and even voters who in polls now say that they would vote for the president are going to very likely break away with those

independents or those undecideds and go for the challenger because there is a feeling out there that something is wrong and they want change, and the way -- the only way they are going to get change is to vote, much in the way they voted for barack obama four years ago is to vote for the new guy. jon: talking about the feeling that something is wrong one of the questions that pollsters asked to gauge the mood of the country is do you think the country is headed in the right direction or are we on the wrong track. according to these latest numbers the right track-wrong track number is still very negative. 39% of the country says we're on the -- i'm sorry on the right track, 55% right track. but you compare that with august, in august the numbers showed the right track number at 32%. what happened between august and now that has people suddenly more optimistic? >> i think that a big thing is the fact that you have -- the president has been out

campaigning every single day very hard. an let's face it president obama is still likable to a huge chunk of the population. people don't necessarily disspies him. there are a lot of -- there are cornerrers among conservatives, among republicans they really, really do not like him, but by and large he's not a detestable guy. he's very appealing and when he campaigns he reminds you a lot of people why they voted for him in the first place, but none of that is going to matter as the race narrows down to the last couple of days. at that point the argument that mitt romney is trying to make, which is look, he's a good guy, nice guy, great guy, but he's in over his head and done a terrible job and look at the economy, i think that that is the only way that mitt romney has any hope of sort of convincing a lot of those sort of moderate, middle of the road voters to go his way and turn away from obama. jon: the "associated press" report on all of this polling

had an interesting line and i wanted to ride it to you. it said romney, governor romney lost his pre convention edge on the economy as his campaign was distracted by criticism of his haste tee response to the obama administration's handling of the eruption of violence in libya and egypt last week and his failure to acknowledge the war in afghanistan and thank the troops. have you heard a bunch of voters saying i was really disappointed that mitt romney didn't mention the troops? or i was really upset about his statement on the embassy attack? >> it's absolutely incredible what people in our business claim to know about what voters are thinking without really ever talking to them. it is astonishing and it remind me of that inartful politically incorrect statement that romney made the other night, or made four months ago that was released by a relative of jimmy carter and avowed liberals in order to attack mitt romney

about the 47%, which was largely correct. i don't -- the media is in full force about this and they are going to hang this on him and try to bring down his entire campaign on this. i would be surprised if most voters actually care that much or actually disagree with him all that much. we do have a real problem with the number of people who are paying taxes in this country versus people who are not paying taxes. we do have a real problem in this country with the level of dependency upon the federal government, among a lot of people, and that is not a bad thing for a guy like -- for a republican to run on. obviously mitt romney, the way he said it it was not the best way of saying something like this. and politicians should be better than that, but i think that if mitt romney sticks with it and says, look i'm not a very polished politician, you've tried the polished politician,

how about the blunt one that says things that are politically incorrect sometimes. at least i'll get the economy working again, that could be very effective. jon: charlie hurt from the washington times thank you. a key battleground state where the polls show the candidates are just about even. what the campaigns are doing to win the great state of iowa, and what the folks in iowa have to say, that's coming up later this hour. jenna: right now the family of murdered border agent brian terry is in focus. they always wanted to know the truth, what is the truth of what happened to their son and whether or not they will ever get that truth, will they get the answers that they want. we may know more when the justice department releases a report on fast and furious, that botched gun-tracking operation. that report may be released in the next few hours. agent terry was killed in a drug battle with drug smugglers as you may know some of the weapons found at the scene linked to fast and furious. william la jeunesse is live from los angeles with more for us

now. >> reporter: jenna that murder was more than 20 months ago, that's how long we have waited for this report. we expect it at 2:00 eastern. house over chairman issa will be an exclusive guest of bret baier. this report is embarrassing to multiple officials and it's worpbz expected for the phoenix atf, why is the report important in it will go down as the official record of a u.s. operation that led to the death of one man and could be tied to as many as 3000 more in mexico. it will exonerate some and incriminate others. in government there is a chain of command. agents tell superiors who tell executives who tell appointees. this report should pinpoint the break down of that name names and end the blame game. finally the politics, fast and furious has become a partisan issue, many conservatives believe that the obama administration cooked this up as a way to justify an impose stricter gun control laws. democrats say that is crazy, no

u.s. officials would knowingly arm the mexican cartels just to push a political agenda. the familiar leave agent terry hopes this report will sort out the truth. >> we also want to make sure that the flawed decision making that can be directed and can be attributed to certain individuals and a. t. f. and the u.s. attorney's office and the department of justice, those people be held accountable for that poor decision making, for their disregard to public safety. >> reporter: critic will be the focus on the department of justice in washington which overseas alcohol, tobacco and tpaoeurpbls and attorney general eric holder who had the ultimate responsibility for the operation. eric holder said he did not know about the tactics in fast and furious. many congressional republicans believe he did that he should resign. they held him in contempt for him refusing to turn over documents. some of those documents have been of course now shielded through executive privilege and the president.

many hope this report you guys is going to sort out who new what went and look at the other agencies that knew and were involved in fast and furious. jenna: we'll look forward to that report and the interview on special report with darrell issa. thank you. jon: hundreds of pakistani students taking to the streets in violent anti-american riots. the for testers there including members of a hard line islamic party burned u.s. flags and chanted, quote, our aim is to destroy all american people. elsewhere several hundred lawyers forced their way into an area that houses the u.s. embassy and other foreign missions. these well-dressed protestors were eventually stopped by police. today's demonstrations follow three days of anti-american protests in pakistan alone. jenna: we have to keep that in mind in the meantime as we continue to watch the stark new warning much the state department over the unrest we are seeing in the middle east. saying al-qaida may be use the

growing anti-american sentiment that we just heard to call on more attacks on u.s. diplomats and other americans as well. senior white house foreign affairs correspondent joins us live from the state department. >> reporter: they are saying the anti-islam film kw-bgs innocence of muslims" is proof america's war on terror w really has been a what are against islam. the group has called for attacks on american diplomats in muslim countries. so far more than 30 people have been killed in violent protests or attacks that have linked -- that have been linked to the film many. i film. in afghanistan a car.com killed a dozen airport workers. they say they used a protest for the film for the attack in benghazi, libya that killed the u.s. ambassador and three other americans last week. victoria noolan voiced concern

that could spread. >> we are seeing a lot of piling on, we are seeing a lot of extremist activity trying to exploit the sentiments from the city to gin up folks to violence and try to use that as an excuse for things that might at wise have been planned for their otherwise rejectionist agendas. >> reporter: the french have temporarily closed embassies in schools in tunisia and 19 other countries and deployed riot police around th a magazine's office in paris after it published cartoons for insulting prophet muhammad today. u.s. owe officials including hillary clinton have condemned th the inch but also condemn the violence incited by it. >> it's important for leaders to put themselves on the right side of this deabout it to speak out

clearly and unequivocally against violence, whoever insights it or conducts it. >> reporter: secretary clinton just now wrapping up talks at the white house with president obama, likely to include intelligence about possible threats against u.s. missions abroad. jenna. jenna: more on this as we get it, wendell, thank you. jon: a discovery that has students of the bible talking, how an ancient piece of papyrus could shed light on the life of jesus and reignite a religious debate going back centuries. a school sparks outrage by canceling a popular tradition, the annual father-daughter dance. >> there's not many opportunities for a father to be with their daughter, and i think it's a travesty to be quite honest with you. >> change the event, if if you are going to do it they have to change the event, otherwise it's better not to do it. >> i think it's not right to cancel the dance for everybody for one person, it's not right. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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jenna: back to a little politics now, vice president joe biden wrapping up a two-day campaign swinging through iowa reaching out to blue collar voters in this state that the president carried back in 2008. governor mitt romney was in iowa two weeks ago. his running mate paul ryan was in des moines on monday. his wife will speak at a rally tomorrow just outside day phoeupb. these six electoral votes crucial for this election as we continue to look at the swing states. just want to show you a little bit about what the economy looks like as well in iowa because we make such a big deal about the economy and being such an issue during the election. the unemployment rate way below the national average. we'll talk more about that in a moment. here are what the polls look like right now. the latest polls we have you see

the president and mitt romney really neck-and-neck in this state. is it really as close as it looks in the polls? that's one of the questions we have today for our guest who is joining us now from the des moines register, it's the politicalle politicalled political editor. does it seems that close of a race on the ground there. >> it really feels that tight here in iowa. it's a jump ball right now. you should note that most of the public polls we've seen are pre convention polls. we haven't had a lot of new polling. and things i think are pretty fluid here in iowa. you've got now people who are finally dividing up, making up their minds, and yet you look at the behavior of the candidates, they are here practically every other day. it's obvious that they consider this a tight race as well. jenna: absolutely. tell us a little bit about it if we don't have the -- what do you

think the reaction has been on the ground in iowa to the convention and the latest story of the week the battle of the videos from each campaign? >> i think it's a little early to judge the reaction of the battle of the videos. you know, it's not normally what you hear people talking about when you go out to these campaign events. what they are talking about really is that they are trying to judge what the candidates are going to do about the debt and the deficit, what they are going to do about the economy and jobs, you know, you mentioned that iowa has not low unemployment rate but that still is not -- people are still very concerned about the economy and jobs. they look at what's happening around the world, they are concerned about, you know, what their kids and grand kids are going to do if they graduate from college and levi what. s leave leave iowa. the economy is the big thing and what a candidate is saying

day-to-day takes time to permeate. >> we had the unemployment rate but the debt is always on the forefront of so many americans but particularly in iowa, right, it's a very big issue. let's talk a little bit about turn out. one of the things that the gallop poll pointed out today is really it's going to be about turn out. republicans tend to vote at higher rates than democrats. is that the case in iowa, and what have you seen as far as the ground game, really getting people out to vote this time? >> the ground game is vital. and you may not realize, but iowa is going to be probably one of the first states in the nation to cast ballots. early voting starts next week on september 27th, so the ground game is very important. republicans do vote in greater numbers on election day. democrats tend to vote in greater numbers using early voting. and you look at -- one of the reasons why we see all of these personal appearances by the candidates is what is going on behind the scenes. the candidate is up on the stage but all the volunteers are out

in the audience making sure that people -- they've got even their contact information, that people are registered to vote, and that they can get ballots for early voting if they are so inclined. so a lot of what you see going on now with a lot of the candidate appearances in iowa is really geared toward getting people ready, lined up to vote and that is starting right away next week. jenna: such important context for us. can't believe it's already here, early voting next week. great too have your insights. looking forward to having you back on the program. jon: the brutal civil war in syria seems almost forgotten with everything across the middle east. bashar al-assad's crackdown on his own people rages on with tens of thousands tkefpltd the man behind this picture who has been on the front lines in syria and has seen firsthand the human price of this war joins us next. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

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jenna: right now the "associated press" reporting two bombs exploding in a damascus suburb with many casualties reminding us as syria's bloody war rages on even though other headlines dominate the news as home. syrian rebels have seized a key crossing on the syria-turkish border. our next guest just returned from syria yesterday where he's seen firsthand what is really happening inside that country. barack barsi is with us, research fellow at the new american foundation. welcome home. >> it's good to be back in the states. jenna: such incredible insight that you have after being inside this oupbt tree, a countr

country, a country that very few get to go in and observe. i want to start with a photo you took of a little boy with a bandage on his chin. can you tell us the story behind this photo? >> basically we are looking at a 13-year-old. a few weeks ago he was praying in a mosque on a friday the communal day of appraiser in the islamic raol an world. and a tank shell hit the mosque, and another landed in the street and heul killed his 11-year-old cousin. >> was this a mosque that was helping the rebels that was targeted for some reason. >> no it was inch kiss criminal nat shelling. there were hundreds of worshippers in the mosque, there were no rebel fighters, no guns, no heavy weaponry, it's basically to intimidate civilian, it wants them to know that it won't back down and surrender. we have a hundred civilians

dying a day from bomber jet shelgs. shell inks. in the 18 months of the syrian civil war the r regime has escalated it's violence and recently is unleashing its air force on civilians. jenna: we here back here at home whether or not the united stat needs to get more involved, who are these rebels, who are the people who are challenging the government. what can you tell us about the people in the country that are fighting bashar al-assad's regime and what we should know about them. >> most of them are regular people like you and me trying to struggle for freedom. there are small numbers of foreigners on the front line, we have credible reports of jihaddists trickling in from iraq and countries such as great britain.

there are a number of foreigners that we are seeing there. jenna: in your assessment is there an opportunity for the united states to get involved in who it be welcome? do you think it's needed? >> well, certainly syrians would accept help from anyone who offers it but a no-fly zone is not a guarantee of a rebel victory. it will help them tn the corner and dislodged regime forces from isolated bases, but the regime will hunk err down in key strongholds. jenna: jenna: you were raised in the state of michigan, you're an american, you've traveled all over the middle east, your fellow americans, our viewers have been watching this story unfold for 18 months. what do you think every american needs to know about what is really happening inside syria? >> the revolution has degenerated into a civil war where the regime is unleashing all its forces and weaponry on the civilians and it's hard for these people to wake up and go down the street and buy bread in the morning. one of the pictures shows a

bombed outbuilding. at 8:00 in the morning a mig fighter jet dropped a bomb on this building and a man walking to buy bread was killed. jenna: we understand you were in harm's way while you were there. i'm sure your family is glad to have you back at home as are waoefplt i understand youare we. i understand your father is a big fan of fox news. i hope that "happening now" now is on the top of his list from now on. jenna: good to get to know barack and have him back on the program. we'll continue to follow your work. jon: brave guy to document all of those abuses. growing security concerns for americans and other foreign nationals living in france. coming up a live report on why that country was forced to shut down nearly two dozen of its embassies. a rhode island school district

bans time-honored events like father-daughter dances, wt until you find out why. >> why would you cancel it on one woman's ae opinion. >> i think it's a tricky issue, because it does matter to the child that doesn't have a mother or father figure. i'm freaking out man. why? i thought jill was your soul mate. no, no it's her dad. the general's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a killer investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the e-trade 360 investing dashboard.

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jon: wait until you hear this. a school district in rhode island puts a ban on gender specific activities saying, events like father-daughter

dances and mother-son baseball games violate discrimination laws. well some parents are saying administrators are taking things too far. listen. >> we're excited because it's a traditional type of thing. >> something special we share, right? >> they had a great time. he absolutely loved it. he couldn't wait for that day to come. jon: let's get into the argument. joey jackson is with us, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. doug burns is a former federal prosecutor. also a criminal defense attorney. so let me get this straight. this started because, doug, one woman who is a single mom was up society that her daughter didn't have a father to take her to the father-daughter dance. so she complained to the aclu. >> right. >> the school district took a look at it, yeah, this violates state law, there for nobody gets to go to the father-daughter dance. >> the first question did she go to the aclu or the aclu go to her?

we'll put that aside. these under fed federal law are exempt. jon: under federal law. >> under state law, they're not. hyper technically the violates the state law. the common sense for the school district, call this thing, either a, family night, or b, since i make my living with words, you will like this, jon, father-daughter and family night. okay? jon: yeah. it just bog fells the mind, joey, to me that nobody gets to have fun because one person is offended. >> boo-hoo. listen, doug talks about common sense. he forgets we're having a legal discussion. where is the common sense in law? the point is this as doug mentioned you have a federal statute and state statute. there is another way to address this, jon. that way go to the legislature and amend the law. rhode island has very restrictive stout.

in 2001, jon, they were the second state in the june to address transgender discrimination by prohibiting that. they're on top of this they made it very restrictive. they said, you know what? father-daughter, no, no. mother-son? can't do it. change the law. you can have the event. jon: it is not like anybody would have complainedded if she took her uncle to the dance are her uncle took her to the dance. it is not like she doesn't have options, right? >> it is not surprising people think political correctness is running amok on many levels in all these recent lawsuits. as you just said of course. bring your brother. bring your uncle. bring your male cousin and 10 times more importantly, not to be a broken record, work it out in the superintendent of education's office. don't get it to this level. by the way they canceled the entire event that is crazy. >> but what would us lawyers do if they worked it out behind closed doors? >> i'm arguing against my

own interests but reality talk about overlitigious society. >> i think the driving objective was about inclusiveness. you stated so correctly, bring an uncle, bring a brother, bring someone. but for the sake of incluing and so not to make people feel bad who may not have moms as relates to the baseball game or have dads relates to the dance they decided, the superintendent did, to ban it outright. jon: here is what the aclu had to say about all this. public schools, it says have no business fostering the notion that girls prefer to go to formal dances while boys prefer baseball games. this type of gender stereotyping only perpetuates outdated notion of girl and boy activities. i raised two girls. i have raised two boys. my boys like to do things like, you know, blow stuff up and go mountain biking and my girls like to go to dances. i don't know. >> they're absolutely differences in the genders. there are differences in the sexes in terms of what the

likes are. what the dislikes are. those need to be accommodated. what it comes down to because of this statute, it is what it is. go to the legislature, make the argument. have them modify it and the dance can be held after all. >> shakespeare said something like the law is a ass. jon: first kill all the lawyers, isn't that what he said? >> no. >> chickens. jon: we'll get you to write the first draft of the new law. joey jackson, doug burns, thank you both. >> pleasure, jon. jon: jenna. jenna: the white house press briefing just wrapped up and our very own ed henry talking about the audiotape from the president that came out yesterday from 1998. the president, then an illinois state senator is heard saying he supports the redistribution of wealth. here is what jay carney has to say. >> my question from a policy standpoint the republicans seem to try to use the tape to suggest that the president's goal is to redistribute income and

wealth and can you say from a policy standpoint whether that is a fair characterization or not? >> ed, would say that all of us, who follow politics and policy, whether we're on this side or your said of the podium have seen circumstances like this where a campaign is having a very bad day or a very bad week and circumstances like that there are efforts made, sometimes desperate efforts made to change the subject. you know, the, the charge based on this 14-year-old video, sounds very familiar to one that was tried and failed in 2008. 14 years ago, then senator obama was making an argument for a more efficient, more effective government, specifically citing city government agencies that he did not think were working effectively. he believes then and believes now that there are steps we can take promote

opportunity and insure all americans have a fair shot if they work hard. jenna: that is jay carney responding to the video. it was interesting to talk to the political editor of "the des moines register" just a few minutes ago. one of the things she said when she goes out on the streets in iowa, very important swing state, this is not exactly what is driving the conversation, the tape from romney or the tape on the president. seems like it is a big headline news this week. we'll see what the effect is on the campaign. jon: kind of interesting. the obama campaign was putting out statements about the romney tape and when the obama tape comes out the next day, it's an effort to change the subject. i don't know. it seems like both campaigns have something to answer for. jenna: we'll let our viewers decide, huh? jon: that's what they do. an age-old debate about jesus. an ancient piece of writing now has scholars wondering if jesus was married? we'll tell you about a discovery that has a lot of biblical scholars talking.

the 2012 campaign pivots back to the number one issue for voters. what the candidates are saying right now about the economy. when you have diabetes...

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to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. jenna: some news on the housing front now. sales of existing homes, homes that have already been built and lived in, increased to the highest level in more than two years. the national association of realtors say it is the most homes sold since a home buying tax credit in 2010. that might have artificially stimulated market back then. some analysts say we're working through an inventory of distressed and foreclosed homes and that might be helping the numbers. overall not bad numbers on home sales. meantime the government is saying american builders broke ground on more new homes the past month. the fastest pace on single-family home construction in the past two years. it was less than analysts expected.

there is news from the housing today. we'll keep on watching it for you. jon: less than seven weeks to go now until the election the race for the white house enters a critical phase. after a brief detour the campaign messaging returns to a critical issue, the economy. let's get into it with douglas holtz-eakin, a former director of the congressional budget office. he is now president of american action forum. erin chatergy, economic advisor for the obama campaign. the tale of the tape is front and center this week. governor romney caught on tape at a fund-raiser saying 47% of the american people, those who pay no income taxes are never going to be in his camp. you have a tape of then state senator obama saying he likes government redistribution of wealth. would you agree, aaron, that those two tapes sort of illustrate the choices in

this campaign? >> well, thank you for having me. and jon, there are two very different visions a the work here in this presidential campaign. president obama believes in an economy that grows from the middle out. where anyone had wants to work whard will have an opportunity to succeed. that is why he invested in education, in innovation, infrastructure and our manufacturing sectors. we're going to move forward when we make the investments and grow together. if you look behind closed-door fund-raiser that governor romney had, for a campaign surprisingly light on specifics he was very specific about the percentage of americans. 47%, that he doesn't have to worry about. and we're talking here about a seniors worked all their lives, living on fixed income. college student working two jobs to rely on federal loans to stay in school. military veterans come home and receiving services from the va. these are not dependent. they're not victims. they're not look for a handout. they're our friend and neighbors and they're americans. romney wants to divide us

53% into 47%. this presidential campaign is about 100% of the country. jon: we're getting into the talking points, aaron, i appreciate the effort. the point is, do these two tapes, douglas, do they illustrate the two campaigns and choices american people have. >> there are very important issues. you've got it right, jon. first of all the president remarks reveal his instincts as a economic policymaker where first and foremost you look at the pie and take some piece from someone to give it to another person instead of making the pie grow. if you look at the administration record over the past four years it is a very poor record of growth because they took their eye off the ball and spent more time on social policy and former environmental policy using epa or labor union policy at nlrb. things like that. mr. romney reflects the american people and correct concern government overreach that violates the principles that made this country so successful and interfeared with the ability of small

businesses and entrepreneurs and the private sector community to grow the economy and those are the visions at stake. one we've seen for four years. we experienced bad growth. the other we used for 200 years and became the largest economy on the planet. jon: a ron, go ahead. >> i have to disagree with doug on this. i think if you watch the video that you're referring to, president is actually talking about how to make government more effective and efficient and i specifically cites government agencies he think could be improved in the home city of chicago. bringing up this tape from 14 years ago to counter balance a tape came out in may just an attempt to change the subject. look at what the two plans are. president obama as a plan to grow the economy. jon: aaron, we've -- >> if i could aaron, i've been listening to the president very closely since 2007 and, it is not in dispute whether he can talk. the issue is what will he do. he is promising to do more of the same in the second term. not been one new idea. we've seen the results in

the first term. those are facts on the ground. so i don't think his eloquence has ever been in dispute. >> facts on ground are this. we created 4.6 million jobs over 30 straight months in the private sector. i was in charlotte for the democrat national convention. the president outlined very specific ideas on manufacturing, on small business and improving our domestic energy supply so there are specific ideas and a record to build on. jon: a ron on that point the president often talks about 4.3, 4.6 million jobs created. isn't that essentially what you need to create just to keep up with population growth over 30 months? >> so the unemployment rate come down one percentage point since this time last year which is a big decline. president and everyone else realizes we need to move faster. that is why he proposed a specific plan to congress. we need to break the stalemate. i think calculation for some of the folks in the house it was better to work against the president than work with him. jon: but the president had democratic congress for -- >> if we could return to the facts. unemployment rate is falling because we have labor force

participation rate at the lowest since 1981. the fraction of the population that is --. jon: hold on. hold on. jon: a ron. >> the question whether you want to call that success when people give up and stop trying to look for and unemployment rate falls. that doesn't look like success to most people. >> here are the facts. >> number of workers give up looking down last month or down over previous years. >> labor force participation is at its lowest rate since 1981. right? jon: we're going to follow these numbers. but again, the choice is out in front of the american people. they will make it seven weeks or a little bit less from today. aaron and douglas, thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: let's take a look at the stock market today as well. one of the things we're watching that oil prices are down. one of the reasons for that is we got an inventory reading how much supply we have in our country. it looked okay. so that is one of the reasons why oil prices are down. also news from the saudis that they're prepared to

produce more oil because they're concerned about rising oil prices and what it means for the economy overall. so with that you have oil prices going down. you have stocks a bit higher today. and we'll be right back with more "happening now".

jon: ref represented jesse jackson being credited with winning freedom of two americans jailed overseas. david lee miller live from kennedy national airport in new york city with that. david? >> reporter: that's right, jon. in a few moments time we expect to learn a great deal more about the last three days during which time reverend jackson met in gambia. he met with the government's president among other things to release of two gambia americans. mr. jemau, turned 50 days old on the day of his

release. he previously taught 10 years at the university of tennessee here in the united states. he had been sentenced to 10 years for treason. also, released because of the efforts of reverend jesse jackson, jessa. he was director of immigration in gambia. he was deputy inspector for police. he was a former soldier that fought in iraq during desert storm. he was serving a life sentence we are told because he had been convicted of also treason. he confessed under torture. also worth noting here, is that following the meeting with reverend jackson, gambia's president decided that instead of simply suspendedding a moratorium on the death penalty in that country he would extend it indefinitely. in august, jon, the president of gambia said all 47 prisoners on death row were going to be executed. nine of them were. he came under a great deal of international pressure. now appears for the moment

38 lives have been spared. we expect to learn a great deal more when reverend jackson arrives in the room in john f. kennedy airport in a few minutes. jon: keep an eye on it for us. david lee miller, thank you [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix.

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and lock in your rate for 12 months today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? >> reporter: rick folbaum in the newsroom, and a new study of an ancient scrap of paper from the fourth century about the size of a business card that a harvard divinity professor says could provide some evidence that maybe jesus christ was married. professor karen king says while traditional christianity has long preferred the idea jesus long preferred the idea jesus married some others thought otherwise. the da vinci code raised the possibility that jesus was married to mary magdalene. many